Jefferson High School set an example for a new school in an overwhelming fashion Friday night.

The Dragons (1-0) defeated Discovery High School 48-0 on the road in Discovery’s first varsity football game of the school’s existence.

Jefferson taught Discovery (0-1) the importance of limiting mistakes and winning the field position battle. The Dragons only had three penalties for 35 yards compared to the Titans seven for 55 yards. The Dragons did fumble twice but Discovery threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles.

Jefferson also started around midfield or on Discovery’s side of the 50-yard line on 11 of their 12 possessions. The one time they had bad starting field position came when Alex Mason intercepted a pass on the 3-yard line.

“That’s what we preach all the time, to focus for 48 minutes, play a disciplined game and I think we did that tonight for the most part,” said head coach Ben Hall, whose program has now won four-straight season openers.

Colby Wood didn’t waste any time scoring his first touchdown in 2016. After Zack Boobas returned a kickoff to the Dragons’ 49-yard line, Wood took off on a 41-yard run. Only a minute into the game Jefferson led 7-0.

Jefferson’s defense forced an almost equally fast three-and-out on their first stand. Discovery’s punter mishandled a snap and he was tackled at the Titans 13-yard line. But Jefferson was unable to move the ball and they settled for a 27-yard field goal by Hayden Kilgore.

Jefferson continued to take advantage of great field position for the rest of the first half. Wood scored on a 34-yard run after the Dragons started on the Titans 46-yard line.

Kilgore made a 28-yard field goal to end a drive that began on the Dragon’s 42-yard line.

Bryce Moore connected with Wood on an 8-yard touchdown pass a few plays after the Dragons took over on the Titans 39-yard line.

The Titans messed up on another punt attempt on their next possession. This time the ball flew over the punter’s head and Zac Corbin beat him to the ball to recover it in the endzone. That gave Jefferson a 34-0 lead that they would take into halftime.

Discovery made a quarterback change midway through the second quarter which sparked their only good drive of the first half. Kaleb Cook replaced Alexander Drazic and led the Titans all the way to the Dragons 9-yard line.

But Jefferson crushed an option run for a loss back to the 17-yard line, and Mason’s interception came on the following play.

The Dragons ended the first half on a pass-happy drive from Discovery’s 45-yard line. Moore completed a pair of passes to Wood and another to Sammy Elegreet to drive to the 3-yard line. But Moore fumbled trying to score a touchdown with 13 seconds left, keeping Jefferson out of the endzone.

“They have an athletic secondary and they were giving us some man coverage,” Hall said. “We saw it as an opportunity to work on some things against press-man, that was the idea there.”

With starters being phased out, Jefferson only scored on two possessions in the second half. When it looked like Discovery’s punter had planted the Dragons deep in their own territory, Wood returned the punt from the 11-yard line all the way to the Titans 22-yard line. Boobas scored on the next play to extend the lead to 41-0.

Kade McNally added the cherry on top halfway through the fourth quarter when he scored from a yard out a play after he ran for 25 yards.

Wood picked up where he left off last season with 116 yards on only 13 carries with two touchdowns. He added three catches for 50 yards with one touchdown, and a 67-yard punt return.

“We just wanted to get what we need out of him and to protect him,” Hall said.

Wood added, “I couldn’t do anything without my linemen with their great blocking opening up huge holes.”

Moore completed seven of his 16 pass attempts for 123 yards and one touchdown.

Jefferson’s defense held Cook and Drazic to 82 yards on 11 completions out of 31 attempts with three interceptions.

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